Scientific puzzle



States Patent O 2,900,190 SCIENTIFIC PUZZLE Jules Pestieau, Hainaut, Belgium 7 7 Application July 2, 195 Serial No. 595,384

Claims. 01. 273-151 and usually only one to the person being tested. In

use, such puzzles have very little value after being solved, since thereafter, the user can easily go through the known steps of arriving at the solutions.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel puzzle which is constructed and arranged so that a large number of separate and distinct problems can be posed for'which answers can be derived, such problems being solved by the same analytical approach but by ditferent steps, thereby providinga puzzle of unlimit d. i e a d ility- .{It isiano'ther object of the present invention to provide a puzzle of the foregoing character which can be made small in size so that it can be carried in a pocket or handbag and which is easy to operate sothat it can readily'beput'into use in various environments by one or more persons;

Another object of the present invention is to provide a puzzle of the foregoing character which is constructed and arranged so that it is suitable for mass production manufacture and can be made and assembled at low cost.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of oneembodiment of the present invention with the cover removed;

Figure 2 is an exploded View of some of the component parts of the embodiment with broken lines being added for the purpose of illustrating the size and shape of such parts;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the complete embodiment drawn to a reduced scale; and

Figure 4 is a plan view drawn to a reduced scale show-' ing the same embodiment with the parts rearranged to illustrate another solution to the puzzle.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

Referring now to the drawings, a more complete description of the invention will be given. The preferred embodiment includes the box 10, a plurality of pieces 12 2,900,190 Patented Aug. 18, 1959 ice fitting within the box 10, and a cover 14 for closing the box 10 when the puzzle is not in use.

The pieces 12 are all difierent in shape but have the same surface area. The individual pieces can best be seen in exploded Figure 2 and are identified by the even reference'numeralsstarting with 16 and ending with 38. The broken lines 40 appear in this figure of the drawing merely to illustrate that each of pieces 12 is formed from five equal squares 42. It will be observed also that the pieces 12 have difierent configurations. Thus, piece 16 has five squares forming a T-shaped member, piece 18 has five squares in alignment, etc.

The box 10 is rectangular in shape and in the illustrated embodiment has one of its surface dimensions equal in length to ten aligned squares 42 and its other surface dimension equal in length to six squares 42., Thus, the surface area of the box 10 is equal to sixty squares 42. Furthermore, since there are twelve individual pieces identified by even numbers from 16 to 38, each containing a surface area of five squares 42, the total surface area of the pieces 12 also equals sixty squares 42. Therefore, if the individual pieces identified by even numbers from 16 to 38 are properly arranged in box 10, they will fit therein and will completely cover the surface area of box 10. It will be found that a large number of solutions can be found for properlyfitting the pieces 12 in box 10.

i It will be observed that the individual pieces identified by; even numbers from 16 to 38, Figure 1, have indicia 44 which appear on one side only. These may or may not be used, as desired, to reduce or increase the number of possibilities of solution of the puzzle. Thus, pieces identified by even numbers from 22 to 32 have different configurations when the surfaces having indicia are uppermost than when inverted. The contestant may be required to insert all the pieces in the box 10 with indicia 44 showing, or to simplify the problem he may be allowed to invert one or more of the pieces thereby progressively making the problem easier by increasing the number of effective working pieces.

By way of example, reference is made to Figures 1 and 4 which show two different solutions which are quite similar, differing in the changed positions of pieces 30 and 32. Another distinction, of no consequence, is the interchanging in Figure 4 of the right and left halves of thepieces in Figure 1; that is, the pieces in the left half of Figure 1 are arranged identically the same as in the right half of Figure 4, and the pieces in the right half of Figure 1 are arranged in the left half of Figure 4. Referring again to pieces 30 and 32, it will be observed that the piece 30 has been inverted in order to arrive at the solution shown in Figure 4, and therefore, it can be seen that if the contestant is permitted to invert the pieces at will, he has increased the number of possible solutions and has made his task more simple.

Still other conditions may be imposed to increase the difficulty of solving the puzzle. Thus, it may be required that one of the pieces 12 be placed in a particular position in the box 10, such, for example, as in one of the corners. Likewise, one or more of the pieces identified by even numbers from 22 to 32 may be required to be inverted with respect to the other pieces.

In all of these problems that may be imposed, the person or persons working the puzzle may be timed to determine how rapid he or they are in arriving at a solution. If desired, one or more contestants may compete against the like number of contestants having a separate puzzle.

From the foregoing it can be seen that large numbers of problems can be set up for the individual or a group of individuals, each problem having one or more difier-' ent solutions. Thus, the usefulness of the invention as a puzzle or game is not terminated when one solution is found, because the number of conditions that can be imposed .On the contestants is very large and the solutions are even more numerous.

The invention does not require the exact dimensions set forth for the box 10 and the pieces identified by even numbers from 16 to 38. The essential requirement is that the total surface area of the individual pieces equal the surface area of the box 10 and that the individual pieces each have a different configuration. Thus, if desired, the box could have a surface area equal to ninety squares with the sides having dimensions equal respecttively to nine and ten aligned squares. There could then be fifteen pieces, each of a different configuration and each having a surface area equal to six squares.

It is preferred that the pieces 12 be formed from any suitable plastic material. The box 10 can be formed from a similar material as can the cover 14. However, the latter can be made from cardboard or like substance. It will be appreciated that the box 10 and pieces 12 may be subjected to a great deal of handling so they should be formed from a material that will not be readily soiled or worn from such use. Plastic materials are very suitable for this purpose, and the parts can be manufactured at relatively low cost.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A game comprising a member having a fiat rectangular area, said area being divisible into a plurality of squares of equal size, and a plurality of flat pieces of equal areas but different configurations having a total area equal to that of said rectangular surface, the areas of each of said pieces being divisible into a plurality of squares equal in size to the first mentioned squares.

2. A game comprising a box having an open top and a fiat rectangular bottom, said bottom being divisible into a plurality of squares of equal size, and a plurality of flat pieces adapted to fit into said bottom and having a combined area equal to that of said bottom, said pieces having their upper surface areas of such size as to be divisible into an equal number of squares of the same 4 size as the first mentioned squares, and each of said pieces having a different configuration than the other pieces.

3. A game comprising a box having an open top and a fiat rectangular bottom, said bottom having six units of length on one side and ten units of length on the other side to provide an area of sixty square units, and twelve fiat pieces each of a different configuration and formed from five of such square units, said twelve flat pieces fitting together so as to cover said bottom.

4. A game comprising a box having an open top and a flat rectangular bottom, said bottom having six units of length on one side and ten units of length on the other side to provide an area of sixty square units, and twelve fiat pieces each of a different configuration and formed from five of such square units, said twelve flat pieces fitting together so as to cover said bottom, one side of said pieces having indicia to distinguish from the opposite side.

5. A game comprising a box having an open top and a fiat rectangular bottom, said bottom having six units of length on one side and ten units of length on the other side to provide an area of sixty square units, and twelve flat pieces each of a different configuration and formed from five of such square units, said twelve flat pieces fitting together so as to cover said bottom, one side of said pieces having indicia to distinguish from the opposite side, and a cover for fitting over said box when the game is not being played.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 231,963 Luers Sept. 7, 1880 1,264,944 Lancaster May '7, 1918 1,290,761 Lester 'Ian. 7, 1919 FOREIGN PATENTS 14,481 Great Britain 1913 403,691 Great Britain Dec. 27, 1933 

